As the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has reported a rise in highly pathogenic avian influenza in China (H7N9) and the Republic of Korea (H5N8), the Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds has issued a statement emphasizing that wild birds are victims and not vectors of the disease.
The statement also urges epidemiological evaluation and measures to control the spread of the virus.
28 January 2014: As the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has reported a rise in highly pathogenic avian influenza in China (H7N9) and the Republic of Korea (H5N8), the Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds has issued a statement emphasizing that wild birds are victims and not vectors of the disease. The statement also urges epidemiological evaluation and measures to control the spread of the virus.
FAO is assisting a number of member countries by conducting risk assessments, contingency planning and expansion of diagnostic capabilities, to prevent and prepare for possible introductions of avian influenza into their poultry populations. FAO noted that wild birds do not seem to be implicated in the spread of influenza A(H7N9), but encouraged limiting access of wild birds to poultry and other domestic animals. Several Baikal Teal, a species included in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and bean geese have been found dead, with some birds testing positive for the virus, near a duck farm in the Republic of Korea where an outbreak of this type of avian influenza was detected.
In its statement, the Scientific Task Force called on agencies and organizations to, inter alia: conduct thorough epidemiological evaluation to determine the true source of the virus and mechanisms of transmission among domestic and wild birds; ensure that affected and nearby farms are biosecure to prevent wildlife-poultry contact; and recognize that focusing attention on wild birds can misdirect critical resources away from effective disease control and result in negative conservation outcomes and loss of biodiversity.
Scientific Task Force members and/or observers include the World Health Organization (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), FAO, CMS, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement. [FAO News] [Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza and Wild Birds statement on H5N8 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in poultry and wild birds in Republic of Korea]